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Hume: How Barbara Hall made Toronto better

Of all the mayors amalgamated Toronto might have had, Barbara Hall would surely have been the best.

In the few years she presided over the old Toronto (1994 to ’97), she made changes that enriched the city by billions of dollars and continue to do so today.

Barbara Hall poses in the Spadina/King area of old factories that have been converted into work or living spaces in Toronto in this file photo from October 2003. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star file photo)

Though few are aware, or care, it was Hall who initiated the “two Kings” policy that brought new life — social, cultural and economic — to then shabby parts of the downtown core.

Simply by eliminating out-dated zoning regulations and replacing them with new rules focused on mixed uses and built form, she unleashed forces that have remade the face of Toronto.

The results are unfolding still in the areas around King and Parliament and King west of Spadina, which in the ‘90s were not Toronto’s most promising neighbourhoods. Nineteenth-century warehouses sat empty and neglected and there was little in the way of new development.

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Today, things couldn’t be more different. A study prepared by the Altus Group estimates that 38,000 jobs and more than $7 billion in economic activity have been generated by the Kings.

“We put the figures through an economic impact framework,” explains Altus chief economist Peter Norman. “We look at spin-off effects and the amount of new development spurred by these changes made way back.”

As Norman notes, “The idea was to introduce a planning policy that had a bit of zoning flexibility and see how the market responded. Clearly, the market responded by adapting and adopting, and by rebuilding and taking advantage of that flexibility. It broadened out the city and created very vibrant mixed-use communities that led to benefits for people working across a wide array of sectors. The kinds of spaces and communities that were created really did open up the core of the city to a variety of sectors.”

No doubt about that. King West is one of Toronto’s most vibrant and, dare one say, beautiful, streets. East of Parliament, things were slower to get going but have taken off in recent years. Indeed, with West Don Lands under construction, the transformation couldn’t be more complete.

It’s worth pointing out that the changes Hall initiated cost virtually nothing. They involved little more than altering regulations about how land can be used. It helped that Hall’s supporters included notables such as the late urban observer Jane Jacobs, architect/planner Ken Greenberg and then chief planner Paul Bedford.

They understood the critical importance of planning, and the need to ensure that the rules reflect reality. By the time of the two Kings, heavy industry was long departed from downtown Toronto. By allowing these old factories and warehouses to be converted into offices, shops, condos, restaurants and so on, whole swaths of the city were recolonized and even civilized.

The tens of thousands who live and work in the Kings tend to be young, educated and less auto-dependent than their parents. Fully 62 per cent bike to work, walk or take transit. Even more telling, 42 per cent don’t own cars.

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Fast forward 17 years and things have changed yet again. The mayor’s office is no longer a place you’d expect to find the likes of Jacobs, Greenberg, Bedford et al. Instead, civic culture has grown cruder, courser and more polarized. City hall is no longer capable of the surgical subtleness Hall brought to the Kings. The current regime prefers monorails and malls.

The difference, of course, is that Hall listened, learned and put her faith in the city. Her trust was richly rewarded, and so are we.

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